Billings Residents Face Water Shutoffs Despite Ongoing Bill Disputes
BILLINGS- Billings residents are continuing to fight against water bills they say spiked last year, but the City of Billings maintains they will impose late fees at the end of December adn turn off water in January if residents do not establish a payment plan with public Works.
The city received many complaints in August of 2024 when water bills surged after the city installed a new billing software.
The city completed a water audit in February, which found the city was not at fault for unusually high water bills, but many residents still refused to pay.
Related: Billings property owners seeking legal action regarding high water bills
One Billings resident, 22-year-old Kailey Ferguson, received a bill of approximately $2,500 for the month of August in 2024, accounting for 34 days.
She said she instantly called Public Works to see if she had a leak.
“They were like, ‘this is insane amount of water.’ They told us like, even if you left all of your sinks, your bathtub, your washer dryer, your toilets, your hose outside, if all of that was running, you still wouldn’t use this much water in a month,” said Ferguson.
She said the maintenance crew did not discover a leak, but the city insisted she pay the amount irrespective.
“they basically told us there’s nothing more we can do. the meters are correct is what they told us. So, whatever is flowing through those meters is what you need to pay,” said Ferguson.
## Billings Residents Fight Unexpectedly High Water Bills
Billings residents are facing unexpectedly high water bills, with some reporting increases of hundreds of dollars. Many believe the bills are inaccurate and are seeking answers from the city.
“My bill was $600, and normally it’s around $300, so that’s double the amount we were paying for rent,” said resident Sarah Ferguson.
Ferguson said Public Works informed her that if she doesn’t establish a payment plan by the end of December, her debt will be sent to collections.”They send it to collections which hurts your credit,” she said. “If you don’t pay the collections, they can start deducting it from your paychecks, so that’s fun.”
Ferguson is part of a Facebook group, billings Water Dispute – Citizens REACT, seeking help and sharing experiences.
The group is run by Ed Johnston and Gary Zacc, property owners in Billings. They’ve documented over 50 invoices from residents claiming unfair billing.
“When you look at the history of several years of usage,what happened during a vrey brief period of time makes no sense,” said Johnston.
Vanessa Willardson
Johnston and Zacc have been meeting with City Administrator Chris Kukulski, Deputy Director of